Presentation Preparedness by Olivia

Presentation Preparedness by Olivia - February 2017 Scholarship Essay

During my first semester of Junior year I enrolled in a management class that tested my patience and my skills. Not only did my professor assign difficult projects, but she also let us choose our own groups to work with. Being the shy individual that I am, I did not know anyone that I wanted to work with, especially with it being only the third day of class. At the end of the class, I felt like the only student who didn't have a group. Oddly enough, my professor called out, "anyone who doesn't have a group come down in front". My heart instantly started racing as I realized I had to awkwardly stand in front of everyone else and find my group mates. Luckily, there were 3 other students who needed a group.
Our first assignment together took a little bit of time considering we were all confused about the assignment, and a language barrier between the international students made it hard to understand. We finally settled on an idea and sent it to our instructor. A few weeks later, it was almost our time to present. We had seen many groups go before us, so I thought we had it all under control and were going to be very prepared. However, I was wrong.
Our professor somehow moved us up 3 days earlier than when we were supposed to go. My group members and I scrambled to meet together and put together our short power point to go along with out paper. There was much arguing and fussing over what to include and what not to include, but we finally finished SOMETHING.
Come the day of our presentation, we all rehearsed our parts and waited for our names to be called. Being up front was not a huge deal for me, but I quickly realized that my other group members had a very hard time public speaking. My professor could not understand what they were saying because they were so nervous and she began embarrassing us when she told them to continually speak louder. A little ways into our presentation, we started to present our data. Instantly, someone in our class asked where it was from, and my group mate tried to answer but was quickly shut down by our professor saying that it was not solid evidence and that it did not support our points. The presentation went on for another 10 minutes with our professor and our classmates calling out our every flaw. It was humiliating.
Afterwards, I was so upset that I wanted to scream. I went back to my room and thought about all the things we should have done differently. Timing? Research? Public Speaking? My group did not work well together, yes, but we should have been able to complete this project like professional college students.
As I am in my Senior year at IU I anticipate working on more group projects. I have learned what it means to be a follower and a leader, when to speak and when to listen, and when to take charge and when to collaborate. I believed everything was under control until it wasn't. Our presentation should have been done way in advance, and I should have spoken up about the invalid data. I tend to be a pushover because I do not like arguing and I do not like confrontation. Luckily, my role in group projects has been evolving. I enjoy different positions so that I am able to relate easier to my group mates. The note taker, the leader, the details person, and the writer. The biggest lesson that I learned from this was that it was no ones fault. I wanted to blame the group instead of the process. We should have had a clear plan from the start and should have put more effort into our assignment. Going forward, I will always be more prepared.